Merck beats expectations, helped by Keytruda sales

By The Associated Press

Merck is posting second-quarter sales that easily topped Wall Street expectations, boosted by sales growth of some of its key drugs. Profit was $3.94 billion in the period, or $1.87 per adjusted share, easily beating the $1.70 that analysts surveyed by data firm FactSet expected. Sales of $14.6 billion, 28% higher than a year ago, also topped expectations. Analysts expected sales of $13.9 billion. As expected, sales of Merck’s COVID-19 treatment Lageverio treatment fell to about $1.2 billion from $3.25 billion in the first quarter when it became Merck’s second-biggest selling drug  behind the cancer blockbuster Keytruda.